Spain, Morocco and Portugal’s bid to host the 2030 World Cup: rival bids, key dates, when the venue, stadiums and cities will be decided and everything you need to know

Spain, Portugal and Morocco have achieved their goal: hosting the 2030 World Cup, something that FIFA has made official through a statement. The three countries will host the World Cup, with the exception of the three opening matches that take place in the countries Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguaywhich formed the other candidacy.

This is a historic candidacy, as for the first time a men’s World Cup would be held jointly on two different continents. The union of the three neighboring countries will contribute to strengthening ties between Europe and Africa, in addition to the entire Mediterranean region; and will inspire thousands of young people from both continents in a common project that has as its fundamental axis the impact that football can have on the sporting and social development of the region.

It should be recalled that the Football Federations of Spain and Portugal officially presented the candidacy on June 4, 2021 at an event with King Felipe VI, the President of the Republic of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the Presidents of both governments, Pedro Sánchez and Antonio Costa . Morocco joined the process that had already begun.

Rival candidacies

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The 2030 World Cup marks the centenary of the greatest national team competition in existence. In addition to the efforts of Spain, Portugal and Morocco, there is a joint candidacy Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile. Ultimately, the South American proposal to have three matches was taken into account, but Chile was ruled out as an option.

The other candidate was Morocco itselfwhich has long been interested in hosting a World Cup and has already tried to organize it in 2026, which will eventually take place in Mexico and the United States. Finally, it will be in the candidacy together with Portugal and Spain.

For his part, England also considered presenting themselves, but by early 2022 the idea appears to have been abandoned and would leave Spain and Portugal the only candidates from Europe, who organized the tournament in 2018, but will not do so in 2022, which will be in Qatar (Asia), or in 2026, which will take place in the United States and Mexico ( North America).

Key dates and when the headquarters and the winning candidacy will be chosen

FIFA agreed that the validation process of the various applications could start in the course of 2022. The choice of the host country or countries had to wait almost two years, during which time a committee of experts visited the facilities to learn first-hand about the applications and the headquarters of the 2030 World Cup. The final decision was announced on October 4, 2023.

Stadiums and cities that could host

The RFEF made public the Spanish stadiums that are candidates to host the 2030 World Cup. The institution chose a total of 15 fields, spread across 13 different cities. Madrid and Barcelona are the only two cities that have two candidates: while the Santiago Bernabéu and the Metropolitano appear in the capital, in Barcelona there are the RCDE Stadium and the Camp Nou. Among the surprises, the Nueva Condomina de Murcia has been nominated as its headquarters. Also included is the New Mestalla, where work recently resumed after a 13-year hiatus and which doesn’t even have an opening date yet.

Among the absences there are also surprises. Neither the Benito Villamarín nor the Sánchez-Pizjuán are among those elected, the former being the fourth with the largest capacity in the country. This also applies to Martínez-Valero in Elche, where Spain and many other teams have played international matches in recent years because of the capacity and comfort it offers. In Asturias, El Molinón has arrived, but Carlos Tatiere has not, despite the latter having slightly more capacity.

The candidates are the following:

• Balaidos (Vigo)
• Riazor (A Coruna)
• El Molinón Enrique Castro Quini (Gijón)
• San Mames (Bilbao)
• Anoeta (San Sebastian)
• La Romareda (Zaragoza)
• Camp Nou (Barcelona)
• RCDE Stadium (Barcelona)
• Metropolitan (Madrid)
• Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid)
• New Mestalla (Valencia)
• New Condomina (Murcia)
• La Cartuja (Seville)
• La Rosaleda (Málaga)
• Gran Canaria Stadium (Las Palmas)